Central Macedonia: Chalkidiki

Holomondas Mountains

The Halkidhiki peninsula resembles a hand with three dangling fingers. These mountains run across the palm of the hand at the top and cover an area of 32,110 acres (13,000 hectares). They are quite low, with only one peak over 1000 meters, are mostly uninhabited and quite unspoiled.

Herbs, songbirds and partridges are found on these low slopes, too, and higher up there are north European birds (robins, wrens, blackbirds, and buzzards), this in an area with woods, grasslands, fields and hedges. Dense forest with some open areas is found in the highest altitudes, with mostly beech, but also wild cherry, rowan, some oaks, and other trees. and flora, butterflies, and birdlife are quite good, the latter including birds of prey such as eagles, eagle owls, griffon vultures, peregrines, and Eleonora's falcons, and black storks, some of which breed here. A good road to this area runs from Paleohori west past Taxiarchis to Arnea, passing through some of the best forest.